Colors
blended together making it hard to focus on one thing. I blinked a few times
and just like that…

I
saw her face.

As
if she was standing right in front of me.

Smiling.

Happy.

Laughing.

My
whole world…

My
girl.

I
felt my lips curl up slightly at the vision as I reached out for her. Wanting
to touch her, needing to hold her, yearning to kiss her. Craving, God, craving
to fucking love her.

“I’m
sorry,” I murmured out loud to no one but the illusion of my drug-infested
mind. “I’m so fucking sorry,” I repeated repentantly, longing for her to
believe me.

Aching
for her to love me again like she used to.

I
don’t know how long I sat there, staring at her beautiful face before my eyes,
subconsciously rubbing the tattooed key that was placed over my heart. I
couldn’t take it anymore, and the desire won over the haze.

It
was too powerful.

It
was too vivid.

I
grabbed my phone. “Baby,” I said into the speaker. The ringing quickly
followed, going straight to voicemail. I hung up and tried again. “Baby,” I
urged with desperation in my tone.

Still
nothing.

I
tried again and again and again.

I
would try until the end of time if that’s what it took for her to answer.

To
talk to me.

To
save me.

To
crave me.

Time
just seemed to standstill, as my life slowly played out in front of me. Trying
to balance in between the light and the darkness when all I could see was gray.

“What?!”
she screamed into the phone, finally answering after I don’t know how many
failed attempts. “What the hell do you want now?”

“Mi
cielo.” I breathed a sigh of relief.

She
ignored my term of endearment. I hadn’t called her that in such a long time.

My
heaven.

“What
do you want, Austin? Why are you calling me? We’re over! I can’t do this
anymore!”

I shut
my eyes and let my mind wonder, allowing it to go to another place in time
where she didn’t hate me.

“I
remember the first time I made you smile,” I chuckled, as if it had just
happened.

My
nerves were on fire. The mere sound of her breathing through the phone was too
intense for me. I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry.

“I
remember when you used to smile just for me. Do you remember, baby? Do you
remember what my love feels like?”

I
heard her faintly breathing.

“Do
you remember my hands on you? My lips? My tongue? The first time I made you
come with my mouth? Do you remember all the times since? Tell me I’m not
forgotten. Tell me you remember, baby.”

“No,
Austin. You were dying with me,” she rasped, knowing that it killed her to say
that.

“The
first time I saw your face, I thought to myself, damn, this beautiful girl is
goin’ to be the death of me. You were perfect in every way. I was a cocky son
of a bitch who needed you then, as much as I need you now.”

More
silence.

“I
had a dream about you, baby. I always fucking dream about you. In my dream you
had a ring on your finger. A ring I put there. You belonged to me. Only mine.
Forever fucking mine. You were pregnant, Briggs. You looked so goddamn happy. I
saw light at the end of the tunnel for the first time in years.”

She
sniffled into the phone.

“I
made love to you. Slow, just the way you love. Taking my time to touch every
last inch of your body. Memorizing every last bit of you. Making you come until
you begged me to stop. I didn’t.”

“I
can’t—” she tried to interject, but I didn’t let up.

“I
kissed your stomach. Our baby. Letting my lips linger there, whispering sweet
lullabies, letting her know daddy will always be there. Baby, it was so real.
For a second I gave you the one thing you so desperately wanted, the one thing
I can’t give you.”

Bestselling author of The
VIP Trilogy, Tempting Bad, Two Sides Gianna, and The Good Ol' Boys series. M.
Robinson loves to read. She favors anything that has angst, romance, triangles,
cheating, love, and of course sex! She has been reading since the Babysitters
Club and R.L. Stein. She was born in New Jersey but was raised in Tampa Fl. She
is married to an amazing man who she loves to pieces. They have two German
Shepherd mixes and a Tabby cat.